page_title: Pediatric podiatry
section_title: Flat feet
hierarchical_section_title: Pediatric podiatry / Medical problems / Flat feet
caption_attribution_description: English: children flat feet
context_page_description: Children's feet are smaller than those of adults, not reaching full size until the ages of 13 in girls and 15 in boys. There are correspondingly small sizes of shoes for them. In poor populations and tropical countries, children commonly go barefoot.
context_section_description: Relative to the skeletally mature foot structure, it is expected that an infant and young child should display a flat foot posture with a lower medial longitudinal arch and everted heel position. Consistently across many studies, paediatric flat foot posture has been found to reduce with age. Normative data has been compiled from multiple studies using the Foot Posture Index (FPI-6) to show that children's feet become less flat with increasing age, that adult's feet are least flat, and that older people's feet become flatter. The normal findings of flat foot versus children's age estimate 45% of pre-school children, and 15% of older children (average age 10 years) have flat feet. Few flexible flat feet have been found to be symptomatic, hence only painful flat feet should be diagnosed and treated. Increased joint mobility or increased weight may increase flat foot prevalence, independently of age.
caption: flat feet
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